by Dave Denio

Created on: April 22, 2008

Spiderman is Superboy! Check your old time comic books. Peter Parker is a teen working for a newspaper. The newspaper editor is a gruff guy. That's Clark Kent and the Daily Planet story. Stan Lee took Superboy and gave him Superman's job. Parker has a love and he can't tell her his true identity. That's Clark and Lois. Once you understand that Spiderman is just a knock off of Superboy, the only argument left is which is better, Krypton or bugs?

Krypton is ice or green shards or slick linoleum.

Bugs have antenae and lots of legs and spray juice out of their tushes.

Both of them are pretty humorless.

Does Spiderman have an edge in terms of plot opportunities? At Marvel, yes. Stan Lee seems to have created stories that should have had a definite conclusion. Time should pass. Peter Parker should be growing up. All the Fantastic people should be dealing with their new lives or not. The X - Men... forget that stupid ass premise. But because Spiderman was created to make money, every ten years or so, Marvel destroys its own history and creates the tale all over again. That's not passing the torch. That's denying there was ever a torch before this day. At DC, this rehashing would flounder. Their readers tend to stick around beyond their seventeenth birthday so they expect the characters to go somewhere.

Superman is the better story. He's alien so he can live forever if you want. The villians can change but he can keep going. He can establish himself as an icon for the whole, imaginary universe. I knew Superman was the better story when I read the entire, Doomsday saga DC ran in the early 1990's. At the climax, Superman returned but as a regular guy with no powers except the ability to grow his hair like a mane. But without the abilities beyond a normal man, he was flinging himself into battles with enemies that could, literally, alter planets. The other characters around him at the time knew they were watching Superman even without the powers. Superman is the selfless, eternal pawn for humanity. Peter Parker is a teenager. He's a teenager who isn't allowed to grow up because of his makers. He's the pilfered copy of Superman. There's no point in comparing them.

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